


Easing the Way

by Amahami



Series: All Around Us [5]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asexual Character, Asexual Edward Elric, Chronic Pain, Drug Use, Ed is dying, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Humor, Illnesses, Intoxication, Medication, Muscle Relaxants, Original Nonbinary Character(s) - Freeform, Painkillers, Sick Edward Elric, Talking To Dead People, amestris's terribly named towns, ed does not die in this fic, inebriated musings, trisha's illness was hereditary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25942822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amahami/pseuds/Amahami
Summary: Ed's pain becomes excruciating while they're on a mission, so Ed takes the meds he was prescribed for it for the very first time. They make him loopy.(In chapter two, he buys more when he runs out)
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: All Around Us [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858846
Comments: 16
Kudos: 124





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, as always, to my lovely beta [Shilo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shilo1364/pseuds/shilo1364).
> 
> Ed mentions sex and masturbation in this, but it is super non-graphic and barely more than a mention; it's not even enough to warrant an M rating.
> 
> The character C uses some weird pronouns. Thon is short for "that one"
> 
> C's pronouns are thon/thon/thonself/thons (for reference, compare it to he/him/himself/his). 
> 
> Enjoy!

The first time Ed took the painkillers Dr. Shoko had prescribed was while he was visiting Uuhvcna, a village in the middle of Bumfuck, West State. It was where the body piercer they were looking into -- the one who used alchemy to pierce people's bodies and heal the piercing as it was pierced -- worked.

The person had been in the middle of writing thons research and findings up to send them to some medical journals when Ed and Al talked to thon.

Thons name was C, and thon had asked the two of them to stay for another week, so C could finish writing everything up and send it with them, since leaving and returning to the village was such a monumental hassle.

A storm had approached during their third night there, and Ed woke up clenching his jaw to keep himself from shouting from the pain.

His joints ached almost as much as they had that time he'd dislocated his shoulder, and his muscles felt like they were all cramping and tensing in sync. 

He opened his eyes and saw nothing, despite keeping a light on in the bathroom so he'd be able to find it in the night.

Not that Ed could catalogue that at the time; he just knew he couldn't see.

He felt as if every part of his body was the head of a drum toddlers were banging on.

A choking sound came from the back of his throat as the pain intensified. Ed held his breath for a few moments to make sure he could keep himself quiet, to avoid alerting Al not only to his being awake, but also to his pain.

He just breathed slowly, teeth clenched, until the spasms died down enough for him to reach down to his suitcase. He pulled out all his rolled pairs of socks one by one until he found the two that held his pills.

He kept his antibiotics in a more easily accessible location, so he could take them appropriately without Al finding out.

He took out one pain killer and one muscle relaxant before fumbling for his glass of water on the nightstand with his flesh hand. He breathed through another spasm, silently promising his body help would arrive soon.

Once the spasm eased, Ed picked the glass up and downed the two pills. He chugged the rest of his water before resetting and replacing his pill socks.

Ed laid his aching body back down and focused on relaxing his muscles, one by one. He wanted to do something to take his mind off the pain, but when it was this bad, he really couldn't do much without expending some serious energy.

So he did what he always did during these times: he mentally talked to his mom.

He didn't really believe she could miraculously hear him, but it wasn't like anybody would ever find out, since it was all in his head.

He updated her on everything that had happened since the last time he'd "spoken" with her, including telling Izumi and Granny Pinako and going to see that doctor.

By the time he was done, he could breathe without fearing he'd accidentally groan from the pain, and his muscles didn't feel like they were being electrocuted. 

He also felt a little… _soft_ , around the edges. As if he were drawn in graphite and someone had smudged the outline of his body against the background.

Ed felt almost incorporeal, in a way distinctly unlike dissociation.

He even smiled without trying, he felt so good, so assured that good things could happen.

He himself might not have been a good thing, but he was in the middle of nowhere, away from the darkness that bigger towns always had, and he was with his brother, and they didn't have to do _anything_.

Not that he and Al weren't doing anything; they were going house to house, doing all sorts of odd jobs for the citizens. 

But he could stay where he was, in the guest room at the village leader's house, for the entire day if he wanted to.

Or he could go run naked in the woods! Not that he would -- his body hair was patchy at best right then, and it embarrassed him to no end. As soon as he noticed it, he'd stopped changing with Al in the room.

Ed felt kind of bad, since his brother didn't get to experience puberty, and now he couldn't even experience it second-hand. But his body was all out of sorts and it just felt… Bad.

In all the books he'd read on puberty, they all talked about sexual awakenings: wet dreams and discovering one's genitals, and being _attracted_ to people.

Ed scoffed. Like hell that was true; he only thought about sex when other people were talking about it, or the rare and horrifying occasions where he _witnessed_ it.

No, no sex, and no wet dreams, though he did try genital manipulation, once. His body functioned appropriately. He still didn't understand what all the fuss was about, honestly.

Speaking of, the existence of permanent mammary fat was superfluous and a waste of energy better used in other ways, like maybe by not adding unnecessary gravitational pull? Or maybe that energy could go towards helping raise children, or hunting animals or gathering plants.

But no, unnecessary, heavy, _milk-free_ mammary fat is somehow beneficial to our survival.

Ed huffed aloud in annoyance, and began to wonder why humans lost their tails when half the population is unbalanced. 

Tails would be superbly useful for helping to balance humans with chest fat!

Shit, maybe _he_ should have been in charge of evolution. He was clearly more well-versed in the human body than anyone else.

...Okay maybe not, since he'd brought to life a monstrosity that was thankfully not his mother -- speaking of, he forgot to say goodbye at the end, and if she was indeed listening then she'd be stuck listening to his rambling endlessly.

_Thanks for listening, Mom. Goodnight._

Ed finally drifted off to sleep, then, with his muscles relaxed and pain eased. He slept soundly for the first time in years.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 100 cenz = ¥100 in canon, and when FMA was written, ¥100 = US$1.
> 
> Ergo, 100 cenz = US$1.

After Ed's first night using pain killers, he began using them more often than he would normally prefer; he needed to keep Al from finding out just how much pain he was in, and if that meant taking pills he'd rather never take, well, so be it.

He did find, however, that taking the muscle relaxants made him loopy as hell. Those were best used at bedtime after rough days, or when he could feel a storm coming.

Ed had taken to keeping a few loose pain pills in the interior pocket of his jacket, so he could easily access them as needed.

They didn't take all his pain away, of course, but the meds lowered it below the threshold of limiting his actions, and that was all that mattered to him.

As time went on, Ed found himself needing to use his painkillers more and more frequently as his pain continued to get worse and worse. 

He couldn't get back to Yoewap at all, since they were never in the area, so when he needed refills, he'd taken to buying them from a dealer in whatever area he was in. 

Even on good days, anymore, his pain prevented him from focusing even on life or death situations. He needed the painkillers to keep the pain from distracting him.

So he went to the black market. He got pretty good at figuring out who was dealing, too.

He never really ran into trouble, except when the dealer thought he was even younger than he actually was. Like that moment.

"Excuse me?" the completely average-looking white guy in an alley said incredulously.

Ed sighed in exasperation. "I'm fifteen and a double amputee with chronic pain. I'll pay five thousand cenz total more than your going rate, which I know is 1200 per pill. I am asking for 150 pills for a total of 180,000 cenz, plus the extra 5k, that's 185 in your pocket."

The guy's eyebrows raised higher and higher as Ed spoke. When he finished, the guy clearly didn't believe him and said, "Do you actually have that amount of cash?"

Ed rolled his eyes and pulled out a wad of cash. He'd brought 225,000 cenz, figuring the dealer would haggle. 

"For every question you ask from now on, my offer will go down by a thousand cenz," Ed said, then slowly and clearly asked, "Do we have a deal?" as he carefully tucked the cash back into his pocket.

"I require a deposit for bulk purchases," the dealer said.

Ed nodded. "Alright, yeah, I can understand that. How long'll it take you to get them all together?"

The other man started counting on his fingers, mouthing numbers. "65 hours."

Ed nodded. "Okay, I'll pay you an extra 45,000 cenz if you can get it by noon tomorrow," he said. He really needed more meds before they left the area, and they were probably leaving the next day.

"Shit," the dealer said, eyes wide, "sure! The deposit'll be 40,000 cenz, and then just tell me where you want me at noon tomorrow."

Ed pulled the appropriate bills out of his pocket. "Park on the corner of 10th and Maple. Put the meds in this lunchbox, run up to me and tell me I grabbed the wrong one this morning. I'll give you a matching lunch bag with the rest of the money in it.

The dealer snorted but nodded. "Sure, Kid." He held out a hand for the deposit.

As Ed put the cash in his hand, he said, "I can and will find you if you don't give me the meds tomorrow, and I will make your life hell."

They parted ways.

The guy did as requested at the appropriate time the following day, and nothing went wrong.

"Have trouble finding the Aerugonian restaurant?" Al asked.

Ed grimaced. "Yeah. The layout of the streets is weirder than North City."

That was a lie, but his brother was busy writing his field report for Mustang, so there was no way for Al to know.

After Ed ate lunch, he and Al moved on to another town and another case, and life continued as normal. Or at least, as normal as his life could get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My brain wouldn't leave me alone this weekend about Ed's death scene, so I wrote that. It's 11k and i'm blown away.
> 
> It won't be posted until I have shared quite a bit more of the series with y'all, but I thought you'd all like to know that it's written, and I cried writing it, and I cried reading over it for initial edits.
> 
> Alright, enough teasing. I hope you enjoyed this! Please let me know what you think :D

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter two will be posted tomorrow, August 17th.
> 
> If you're up for it, please let me know what you think!
> 
> Any comments negatively talking about C, thons pronouns, or nonbinary people will be deleted. Same goes for asexuality.


End file.
